The Silph Company (Japanese: シルフカンパニーSylph Company), or simply Silph Co., is a company headquartered in Saffron City that is featured in many versions of the Pokémon franchise. They are the manufacturers of many tools, including the Silph Scope—a device that allows the user to view spectral entities—as well as home appliances. They are also speculated to run the Poké Marts in Kanto as well as in Johto and the Sevii Islands.

Contents

In the core series games

A Silph Co. Master Ball

Overview

Silph Co. is the leading manufacturer of Pokémon technology. This company develops the most commercially used Poké Balls and several other Pokémon-related items, including medicine and Technical Machines, looking for ways to improve them. It supplies the Poké Marts of its territory. Its president is a kind, old man.

History

Silph's status had made it a target of Team Rocket, which, in Generations I and III, orchestrated the takeover of their headquarters in Saffron City. The situation will be resolved by the player, who will take on the mission of driving them out of the city. Team Rocket had also gained the Silph Co.-made Silph Scope to combat ghosts. The company's president reveals that the top-secret development project Team Rocket was after is the Master Ball, which can catch any Pokémon without fail.

Headquarters

The Silph Co. Office Building, based in Saffron City, is an eleven-floor skyscraper that is effectively a giant maze.

Generations I, III, and VII

In Generations I, III, and VII, the player can navigate the inside of the building by using warp tiles in order to reach the board room on the top floor. The player must obtain the Card Key, which unlocks Silph's doors like a hotel key, on the fifth floor of the building in order to do this. All the while, the player must battle through numerous Team Rocket Grunts, including the four Rocket BrothersRBYFRLG/Rocket SistersPE and a Juggler, who also appears to be a member of Team Rocket. Several Scientists have also defected to Team Rocket, sometimes pretending to be hostages, and will battle the player on sight. The bed at the bottom-left corner of the ninth floor can be used to heal the Trainer's Pokémon without having to leave the building.

On the seventh floor, the player can receive a Lapras as a gift from a Silph employee. In the Generation I games, this was the only way to obtain a Lapras. Upon reaching the president's room on the top floor, the player must defeat Giovanni to stop him from stealing the Master Ball. After he is defeated, Team Rocket abandons their plans for Silph and withdraws from the building.

In Generations I and III, Blue will challenge the player to a battle on the seventh floor, while in Generation VII, Trace will instead stay behind on this floor to stall Archer and give the player time to reach Giovanni.

Rotom's Room

The alternate forms of Rotom may also be accessed here in Generation IV via the broken elevator. When Rotom is in the party, the Silph Co. building will be deserted of all people, including Steven. The notebook present in the room indicates that Charon may have had a past connection to the company.

Discoveries and inventions

Within the company, there are reports of discoveries that serve as in-game trivia for the player.

Generations II and IV

Outside design

In Super Smash Bros.

Silph Co. appears in Saffron City as a playable stage in Super Smash Bros. (called Silf in the Japanese version). The battle takes place on the roof of Silph Co. and a few smaller surrounding buildings, along with two small moving platforms. This is the home stage of Pikachu and Jigglypuff in the game.

Certain Pokémon will emerge from the elevator on the Silph Co. building and attack briefly, similar to Pokémon summoned from Poké Balls. Occasionally, Pidgey, Fearow, Butterfree, and other Flying-type Pokémon will appear in the background.

In the main series

In Pokémon Origins

Silph Co. appeared in File 3: Giovanni. Like in the games, it was taken over by Team Rocket. Hearing from Silph Co.'s vice-president of how Team Rocket was experimenting on Pokémon in order to accelerate the completion of Master Ball, Red decided to storm the building. Doing so, he freed all the Pokémon and Scientists that were trapped inside, even obtaining a Lapras from one of the Scientists as a thank-you gift. Finally he arrived at the president's office, where he encountered Giovanni. Before Giovanni could escape, Red proclaimed that he would always be out there to stop their plans, irritating the Team Rocket Boss. Wanting to teach Red a lesson, Giovanni challenged Red to a Pokémon battle, which ended with Giovanni's Nidoqueen defeating Red's Charizard and wrecking a big portion of the building in the process. Afterwards, Giovanni escaped with a helicopter, leaving before the police could arrive. It was also mentioned that the development of Master Ball was put on hold for a while due to this incident.

In Pokémon Generations

A photograph of Silph Co. appeared in The Chase, where an International Police agent informed Looker about Team Rocket's failed attempt to take over the building while giving him a report about their attempt to locate Giovanni.

In the manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Silph Co. in Pokémon Adventures

Silph Co. first appeared Holy Moltres, where Team Rocket was shown keeping their base inside the building and having managed to capture the three Legendary birds. Later it was revealed that Team Rocket was keeping the kidnapped people of Pallet Town at the building, prompting Red and Blue to break into the Team Rocket-infested Saffron City and storm the Silph Co. building. Green also entered the building, although with much more selfish motives.

Inside the Silph Co. building, Red, Blue, and Green were confronted by Team Rocket's commanders: the evil Gym LeadersLt. Surge, Koga, and Sabrina. During the conflict, the Legendary birds were accidentally fused together by Green's use of the "Badge Energy Amplifier", a device that increases the energy produced by Gym Badges. With their combined efforts, the three Pallet Town Trainers managed to defeat the fusion Pokémon and de-fuse it, allowing the Legendary birds to escape. The building collapsed in the ensuing chaos, bringing Team Rocket's plans to an end.

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga

In the Pokémon Zensho manga

Silph Co. was seen in Saffron City. After hearing from the Dojo Master that the Gym Leader Sabrina's talking Psychic Lapras had been stolen by Team Rocket and taken to the Silph Co., Satoshi infiltrated the building, where he soon found Sabrina, who had just found her Lapras. Satoshi and Sabrina decided to team up against Team Rocket, and used Sabrina's teleporting powers to reach the top floor, where Giovanni was keeping Silph Co.'s president hostage. After defeating Giovanni's Nidoqueen with Lapras, Satoshi obtained the Master Ball from Silph Co.'s president and the Marsh Badge from Sabrina as a thanks for his help.

Trivia

Although a logo for the company was not introduced in-game until Generation IV, several possible logos have been seen in previous games. One appeared in early artwork of the Silph Scope on the front of the device, another appeared on the side of the Silph Co. building in Super Smash Bros., and a third appeared on the original Pokégear artwork as a stylized "S".

The elevator on 11F has a bug in Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue that causes the player to be layered on its doors upon leaving it. Another quirk occurs as result, which disables the elevator mat's left tile if the player enters the elevator without being on the doors and does not move from that tile afterwards, thus preventing them from exiting without specifically using the mat's right tile. Both these issues were fixed in Pokémon Yellow.